Charles Hard Townes Award 2008

The Optical Society of America (OSA) has set up various awards for recognizing distinguished achievements in the field of optics. One of the most prestigious of these awards is the Charles Hard Townes Awards, which was established in 1980 to honor Charles Hard Townes, one of the famous pioneers of laser technology. The award can be given either to an individual or to a group of individuals for outstanding experimental or theoretical work, discovery or invention in the field of quantum electronics. Note that this is a wide field, embracing not only laser technology, but also e.g. quantum optics.

Dr. Paschotta already served as a member of the Charles Hard Townes Award Committee for the 2007 prize, awarded to Prof. Serge Haroche. For the 2008 prize, Dr. Paschotta has the honor to serve as the Committee Chair. The main task of the committee members is to carefully review the award nominations in order to come to a fair judgment. Dr. Paschotta takes this task very seriously and is happy to serve the scientific community by contributing to a fair and balanced evaluation of all nominations.

Currently, the nominations which arrived until the deadline of Oct. 1, 2007, are reviewed.

See also: OSA's information on the Charles H. Townes Award, including previous award winners